READING LOG - Amiah & LaVana


Book Title: Th1rteen R3asons Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher



Entry 1
Date: November 18, 2009
Summary: The beginning of this book describes the main character Clay and how he reacts when he gets the tapes and listens to the first side. When he gets home from school, Clay Jensen finds a package addressed to him with no return address. When he opens it, he finds seven tapes marked with blue nail polish on each side, numbered one through thirteen. He listens to the first side and hears Hannah, a girl he never thought he would hear again, tell him that these tapes are her thirteen reasons why she committed suicide, and he's one of them. After getting over the initial shock Clay listens to her first reason, where her former boyfriend Justin Foley turns her first kiss into a sluttish rumor that spreads across the high school.
Reaction: (I am reading this book with LaVana) LaVana: Why do you think she did this to these people? I think it's kind of cruel, but she must have had more in mind than just making all these people hurt.
I think that Hannah did this to show them what they are doing to people like herself. She is doing this to make them better more caring people. She is saving these people. And the ones around them. I think that what Hannah did was something that not everybody would be strong enough to do. Even if she was dead when people first heard them, i think that everybody will forever remember her and what they did to her.
That's a good point. But do you think all of them will change? Courtney and Marcus didn't seem to care all that much, they were just more worried about how it would affect themselves.

Q-words: nonexistent, relevant-bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand

Entry 2
Date: November 18, 2009
Summary: This second part of "13 Reasons Why" contains the second side of the first tape, and Hannah's second reason. After walking over to his friend Tony's house and stealing his portable tape player Clay listens to Hannah give her second reason why, which centers around Alex Standall's list of who's hot/who's not. On this list Hannah was voted best butt in the freshman class, mainly because Alex needed someone to put down opposite a girl he wanted to get back at. This made people treat Hannah even worse, and she has an uncomfortable experience with a guy who's known for getting around when he grabs her butt. Becaue of this, Hannah's false reputation gets worse. Using a map Hannah gave him before she dies, Clay visits the spot where this happened.
Reaction: Kind of like what Clay said at the beginning, how bad can these stories get? There's still eleven more, and Hannah said they get worse every time. LaVana: do you think Tony knows about the tapes?

I think that Tony knows about the tapes because he seems not to judge Clay when he first sees him. and he is being soft spoken. also when Clay told him that he "asked" to borrow his tape recorder Tony played along with it.
Q-words: mesmerize, ridicule - speech or action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing; derision




Entry 3
Date: November 30, 2009
Summary: On cassette 2, Hannah talks about Jessica Davis and Tyler Down. Jessica Davis was one of the first friends Hannah had when she came to this high school, and they used to get together along with Alex Standall to talk at a cafe called Monets. When Alex makes his hot/not list and puts Jessica opposite Hannah as "worst butt" Jessica gets mad and looks for someone to blame for breaking her and Alex up, and it falls on Hannah, again, based on false rumors. Hannah lets her believe what she wants to hear, and Jessica slaps her, leaving a scar. After that, Hannah hears someone outside her window one night as she's getting ready for bed. She invites a girl over so they can catch the person together, and they find out it's Tyler Down, the yearbook photographer, who has been taking pictures through Hannah's window. Once he's done listening to this tape Clay explores Monets and finds a book with a picture of Hannah and a girl in it. The girl, named Courtney Cross, looks very nervous.
Reaction: Judging by when the picture shows up, I think Courtney is the girl who helped Hannah discover Tyler. I wonder where her story comes in? That must have been so creepy for Hannah to find a "peeping tom" outside her window.

Amiah: Do you think Courteny was doing this for attention?

Q-words: haven - any place of shelter and safety; refuge; asylum.





Entry 4
Date: December 2, 2009
Summary: Cassette 3 side A talks about the girl in the picture, Courtney Crimsen. After she discovered Tyler with Hannah, she went back to ignoring her again. Hannah is hurt, but expected as much. Then, to save her flawless reputation for being nice and friendly to everyone, Courtney invites Hannah to go to a party with her. When Hannah picks Courtney up, Courtney says "thanks for the lift" and then ditches Hannah at the party after asking if Hannah will wait around to give her a ride home. Hannah is angry and goes to find Courtney after hearing she's spreading more rumors around. She forces Courtney to stand with her while Tyler, who also came to the party, takes their picture. Then Hannah leaves the party and ends up giving Tyler a ride home, leaving Courtney there. While Clay is listening to this, he walks over to Tyler's house and sees that Tyler's window is broken. A kid named Marcus comes up to him and asks him if he wants to throw something at it. Clay has a discussion with him about the tapes and then leaves.
Reaction: Courtney is one of those people whe only cares about herself. Sure we all do to some extent, but she was much worse. Marcus didn't seem bothered by his part in the tapes at all, whatever it is. How could he not feel even a little bit of guilt over that? LaVana: what did you think of Courtney and Marcus?

I was pretty upset with both of them. First off Courteny; she only wanted attention. She wants everybody to think that she's the good guy. But really she's the bad guy. With Marcus...i can see why he would be mad at Tyler for what he did. But going as far as vandilising someones house that his entire family lives in i think is a little too much. He could have talked to Tyler, that would have hurt him more then throwing rocks at his window. It would have meant more to him. But even though i was upset with both of them. It still adds more drama to the story. make the story a little more intense :)
Q-words: pummel-to beat or thrash with or as if with the fists




Entry 5
Date: December 5, 2009
Summary: Cassette 3 side B of Hannah's tapes talks about Marcus Cooley and what he did to Hannah. It's February, and the cheerleaders are selling love compatability quizzes to the student body, and this year Hannah decides to get one. While she's picking it up in the office, Marcus, who is standing right outside where she can see him calls her on her cell phone and asks if she wants to go out with him on Valentines Day. Hannah accepts. Later, half an hour after the time they were supposed to meet, Hannah is sitting at the diner all by herself. When Marcus does finally show up, he tries to get Hannah to make out with him. She shoves him out of the booth, and after calling her a tease he leaves.
Reaction: I wanted to punch Marcus too! No wonder he didn't feel guilty about causing Hannah's suicide, he just never cared in the first place.
LaVana: Do you think it's Hannah's desperation that makes her end up with all these bad people, or is she just really bad at judging people's character?



Q-words: pathetic-miserably or contemptibly inadequate





Entry 6
Date: December 8, 2009
Summary: Cassette 4 side A talks about what happened after Marcus left Hannah at the diner and her first real cry for help. Clay goes to the diner and meets his mom, who brings him the rest of the tapes. Then Tony walks in and Clay lies about stealing the walkman, saying that Tony said he could borrow it. Tony is okay with it and just tells Clay to return it when he's done. Clay starts listening to cassette 4, and Hannah describes how after Marcus left, she was sitting there and Zach Dempsey came and sat down. He acts like he's concerned for her, but it turns out he was just trying to get an easy date in front of his friends. After Hannah turns him down, Zach gets back at her by taking her compliment notes away from Peer Communications class so it looks like no one's writing her any. Hannah eventually catches him in the act. She is more depressed and chops all of her long hair off so it's in a short cut. Then in a question jar in Peer Communications she writes a note saying she was thinking about suicide. In a discussion about it, her classmates brush it off as someone trying to get attention.
Reaction: This girl needs help!! Zach is very immature, and is really pushing Hannah over the edge. Lavana: Do you think Zach is just being ignorant, or does he not care that Hannah is depressed?
I don't know..i wondered that myself. But I was upset with him.
Q-words: insignificant - unimportant, trifling, or petty




Entry 7
Date: December 9, 2009
Summary: The next two sides of Hannah's tapes talk about her poetry, and Clay's story comes in. Clay is sitting in the diner still, wondering why Tony has hung around so long, as he listens to what Ryan Shaver did. Hannah talks about how she was sad and decided to join a poetry class designed to be positive (but turns out to be pessimistic) and Ryan, who is from her school, had joined the class too. They get to talking and they show each other their poems. Later, Hannah finds out he stole one of her poems about what she has been feeling and put it in his student writings newspaper anonymously. Teachers find it and with their classes tear it apart searching for the meaning, which none of them get right. After this, Tony calls Clay out to his car and drives him around while telling him that he had Hannah's second set of tapes, the ones that would go public if the first set wasn't passed around, and makes sure Clay's doing okay. Then Clay listens to his story: He and Hannah were at the same party and started talking heart o heart. Eventualy they started making out, but then Hannah got to thinking about Justin and freaked out, telling Clay to leave. His only mistake was that he listened to her, instead of staying and comforting her. Hannah talks about later, when she got home, she started writing out people's names, and came up with her 13 reasons why.
Reaction: It's amazing how the little choices made affect everything else so much. If Clay had of stayed, Hannah might have been able to turn her life around, but he didn't. LaVana: what did you think of this section?
This section was one of the most important parts of the story. Clays part.I liked the reading it was very descriptive and i couldnt put the book down! It was fo rme intense. I could feel the rushed feeling that would be going through Clay when he heard his name some through the headphones. It was a very important section.
Q-words: intrigued, intrusive - tending or apt to intrude; coming without invitation or welcome




Entry 8
Date: December 16, 2009
Summary: This part of Hannah's tapes describes what happened after Clay left the party. Hannah is sitting on the floor in the room where she and Clay were, when a drunk couple came in. The girl is nearly unconscious, so the guy left and stands outside the door. His friend Bryce Walker walks up and starts talking with him, and convinces him to let him rape the girl. Hannah at this point is hiding in the closet, and has to wait until the guy leaves before she can escape. When she leaves the room, Justin, the guy who allowed it to happen, is sitting right outside the room.
Hannah is leaving and a cheerleader she knows from school asks if she wants a ride home. Hannah accepts, and as they're driving, the girl loses control and takes out a stop sign. When Hannah tells her they should report it, she kicks Hannah out of her car. Later, when Hannah calls it in, police tell her police are already at the accident; later Hannah finds out two cars collided and an old man died because there was no stop sign. Clay and Tony have a discussion of how they could have stopped Hannah, and how they had both been given a chance.
Reaction: I thought that cheerleader was really nice, but she was actually horrible! The more I learn about Justin Foley, the more I don't like him. He needs a backbone, and a brain would be nice too! LaVana: Why do you think the cheerleader was so horrible? Was she just two faced too?

Q-words: hazardous, voyeurism - the practice of obtaining sexual gratification by looking at sexual objects or acts, esp. secretively



Entry 9
Date: January 3, 2009
Summary: Cassette 6 side B talks about Hannah's decision of how she is going to kill herself and about the only time she lives up to her reputation. First Hannah talks about how she thinks overdosing on pills will be the best way to go, then moves on to a party that occured by a house she was watching. During the party she tries to block out all the noise but can't seem to get away from it. Once the party's over she walks down the street to where the party occured, and sees Courtney Crimsen and Bryce Walker sobering up in the hottub. She joins them and Courtney leaves. Hannah gives in to her reputation, then goes back to the house she is watching.
Reaction: Hannah's words "The night was over. I was done" at the end of this section really made me realize how determined she is to end her life. She doesn't care what happens to her any more. It's sad to see her, after fighting so hard in the beginning, just giving up in the end.
This part of the book made me want to punch Courtney! Its so irritating! why would somebody do such a thing?! she could have the same exact label on her. She was on the hot tub with Bryce also! only if people would have seen! but no..she set Hannah up again to ones of her stupid pranks. If there was a girl like Courtney in real life that i KNEW i would confront her if i was Hannah. Confront her and tell her how dumb she looks. How much people are going to dislike her if they ever see the real her. Ridiculous! ~LaVana Williamson
Q-words: precondition-something that must come before or is necessary to a subsequent result



Entry 10
Date: January 5, 2009
Summary: This final section of 13 Reasons Why describes Hannah's last cry for help and what Clay does once the tapes are done. On the last tape, Hannah has recorded herself going to talk to her counselor, Mr. Porter, and how when she storms out of his office, he doesn't come after her. After apologizing for what happened, Hannah's tapes end. Clay mails off the box of tapes to the next person then goes to school. As he's putting his books in his locker, he notices a girl named Skye that is very quiet and avoids everyone. He reaches out to her, and the book ends.
rReaction: Hannah didn't really give Mr. Porter a fair chance at all. If I was the person trying to talk to Hannah and she just storms out of my office I'd think she was just throwing a tantrum and if she really needed help she'd be back later. This was a very sad book. LaVana: Do you think Skye is depressed like Hannah was, and is Clay reaching out to her because he remembered Hannah walking down that same hallway, instead of just recognizing a person who needs a friend? What did you think of the book overall?

When i read this section of the book I was mad at Mr. Porter because he was being so care free. He had Hannahs life in his hands and he let it get away. If i was Hannah i would have gone to a professional. Hannah needed that help. She should have told her parents.

I don't think that Skye was actually depressed. she would have took more action i think...but maybe she was. I really like at the end of the book how he (Clay) goes back to her (Skye).

Overall i really liked the book. When i first began reading this book the first thoughts that crossed through my mind was that Hannah wanted attention. She wanted people to remember the invisable girl she was. But the more i read on the more and more i began to get attached to the book. All of the horrible things that people did to her. This book made me look at some people in a different light. This book was very sad and i would recommend it to anybody.